Will Sandy Springs/Dunwoody Become as Dense as Buckhead? (Atlanta: apartment complexes, townhome)

[jlaud12]

With all of the growth that the Perimeter is seeing, do you guys think the Perimeter area could ever become as dense as Buckhead? There seems to be several new towers being rumored in the area. Just curious.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by jlaud12

With all of the growth that the Perimeter is seeing, do you guys think the Perimeter area could ever become as dense as Buckhead? There seems to be several new towers being rumored in the area. Just curious.

In a word, yes.

It's already happening, and zoning is in place for transformative development.

State Farm has broken ground on the first tower in their massive new development on Hammond.

This is a separate development planned and approved directly across the street:
Development - Projects - High Street | GID.com

Cox is finishing up on a pretty impressive HQ's complex just to the north on Peachtree-Dunwoody.

Hines is ready to develop this at Abernathy/Mt. Vernon/Peachtree-Dunwoody:
Northpark

Dense apartment complexes are filling in. This area is already our largest office submarket, and will continue to urbanize.

I personally would prefer to see all of this happening inside the City, but it is what it is. A huge portion of corporate America has spoken, and this is now one of our 'favored quarters.' I wish it the best, and am happy to see the prosperity happening here.

I am also convinced that having 4 train stations in the area is a huge asset.

[jsvh]

Yes. Buckhead is not all that dense anyways.

[jlaud12]

Originally Posted by JMatl

In a word, yes.

It's already happening, and zoning is in place for transformative development.

State Farm has broken ground on the first tower in their massive new development on Hammond.

This is a separate development planned and approved directly across the street:
Development - Projects - High Street | GID.com

Cox is finishing up on a pretty impressive HQ's complex just to the north on Peachtree-Dunwoody.

Hines is ready to develop this at Abernathy/Mt. Vernon/Peachtree-Dunwoody:
Northpark

Dense apartment complexes are filling in. This area is already our largest office submarket, and will continue to urbanize.

I personally would prefer to see all of this happening inside the City, but it is what it is. A huge portion of corporate America has spoken, and this is now one of our 'favored quarters.' I wish it the best, and am happy to see the prosperity happening here.

I am also convinced that having 4 train stations in the area is a huge asset.

Definitely some exciting projects. What's the likelihood of these coming to fruition?

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by jlaud12

Definitely some exciting projects. What's the likelihood of these coming to fruition?

Stay tuned...

[cachemaster]

Here is some more info on the State Farm expansion
State Farm to headline massive project near Perimeter Mall | www.ajc.com

[cqholt]

Perimeter center will continue to become dense, but not the surrounding residential areas. Unless something about traffic congestion is done, it'll become a nightmare. PC stands to benefit from the red line extension north as it'll give north fulton commuters another choice.

[jlaud12]

I agree with everyone's comments. I recently purchased a townhome in the area hoping to take advantage of the growth in the near future. Traffic is brutal at times but I still love the area. Lived in Buckhead for 6 years so I needed something different. I really hope these projects happen.

[ATLJR]

I am very interested to see how the Perimeter area develops, and reacts, to all the development. Traffic is already bad and is only going to get worst with the new development and the people they'll bring. The lack of thru roads and large insular developments like the mall and various suburban-style residential developments force all this traffic onto too few of roads, limiting options, and creating gridlock. While the Perimeter area has access to four MARTA stations, which is great, its clear that many of these developments are locating in the area because of its location to the entire metro area, much that isn't served by MARTA. The point being, while it's great State Farm wants to be located near MARTA and incorporate it into their building, they're still building a 4,000+ parking deck, knowing the majority of people will still be commuting my car. Eventually they'll be a breaking point, where neither the employee, nor resident, wants to be stuck in that traffic. A positive move would be to increase high density residential in the area, but we've seen Dunwoody leadership already attempt to put restrictions on stick built apartment complexes, which could provide quick, relatively cheap, solutions.

As JMatl said, there's also Abernathy 400 (additional 2,000 car deck, not really located near MARTA); 100 North Park, High Street Atlanta, & the Goldkist Development (apparently Mercedes is looking into this?).

Something things that could help in the future would be an obvious expansion to MARTA, but that's far from certain, has limited reach, and is a far distance future solution. Dunwoody and the business community could provide transit of their own, but you're still hindered with the fact that the majority of people working are commuting in. Regardless of whether they take transit during the day to get around. The only possible solution, in the near and mid-term, would be to increase residential opportunities and allow those who want to avoid traffic to have an option - the locally provided transit would also serve them, making living in the area more appealing.

Regardless, it is my opinion, the area will soon hit a wall due to infrastructure and traffic.

[arjay57]

So long, elbow room.